Our colleague Andrew Behan has kindly researched this man: Leading Airman John Charles Archer Bensted was born on 29 December 1923 in Balham, the younger son of Edward John Bensted and Margaret Bensted née Huggins. His father was a Bank Clerk and the family lived at 44 Childebert Road, London, SW17. He joined the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy, service number FAA/FX86815 and died, aged 19 years, on 18 November 1943 in a flying accident.
He was aboard a Fairey (Blackburn) Swordfish MkII aeroplane, serial number HS448, with Sub-Lieutenant (A) Ian Geoffrey Cuthbert, RNVR and Sub-Lieutenant (A) Redge Dennis Hoskin, RNZNVR, operating from H.M.S. Shrike at the Royal Naval Air Station at Maydown, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, when it crashed on the beach near the bombing range at Crossaig, Argyle, Scotland. A member of the Women's Royal Naval Service working at one of the nearby observation posts managed to pull one of the airmen from the wreck but none survived the accident. He was cremated at the South London Crematorium, located within Streatham Park Cemetery, Rowan Road, London, SW16 5JG and is commemorated there on Panel 21 on the screen wall of the War Memorial.
